Let the Combo-ing Begin. Or Re-Begin. Or Whatever.

 

This is the kind of commitment I like to see.

First, kudos to the DTA for rescheduling this event and not cancelling it.  You can tell from the number of teams that this got a lot of interest this year.  I know the calendar is pretty full already but this is the right result and it reflects a level of commitment that is appreciated.


Men’s 8.5 combo has two flight consisting of: Blue flight with Team Entrekin, Team Kingsley, Team Bearden, Team Mills and Team McHugh; Red flight with Team Sisk, Team Myers, Team Iyer, Team Kanchi and Team Arcaria. 


For the Blue flight, I think this is Kingsley’s to lose.  While that is entirely possible given past lineup challenges in various events, and while I am dubious about some of his 4.0s, I still think he takes the lighter Blue flight.  The real interest here will be who he plays when.  Several teams in this flight have pieces but look to lack the depth to really challenge at all three lines.


For the Red flight, I think it is Sisk’s to lose.  Unburdened by the temptation to play himself, Sisk will instead have to negotiate who plays with whom, while he’s also negotiating his way past Team Vatum, er Kanchi.  No hard feelings here, but I’m still surprised Vatum was allowed to come in at 4.5 after he got caught failing to remember he went to junior nationals.  Is Kalamazoo that non-descript?  Can't say as I’ve never been.  I’m also surprised Kanchi is letting Vatum back in the fold after failing to disclose to his captain that he should have come in at 5.5, not 3.5.  I mean, surely no one knew.  Right?


I'm not going to get into the 7.5 event but those are some of the worst 7.5 teams I've ever seen, and I'm not just talking about the team that has all 3.5s and 3.0s.

 Last Weekend’s Playoff Recap – The NOHO week in review

4.0 18+ Nationals – NOHO went undefeated in their flight posting a very strong 13-2 record.  Unfortunately they fell 3-2 to the NorCal team that won it all.  Spearman claimed all along that the 18s sectionals event was all about practicing for 40s and 55s.  Who expected the 40s and 55s teams to fall short while the 18s team played on Sunday at Nationals.  I’ve said it before but I’ll say it one more time, THIS WAS THE YEAR TO TAKE ADAVANTAGE OF A WEAK TEXAS 4.0 FIELD.  And you’d have gotten an extremely favorable flight draw at Nationals.  They’d never give Freeman that soft a flight at Nats.


9.0 55+ Sectionals – As predicted and a surprise to no one who was paying attention, Dallas obliterated the opposition going a perfect 9-0 at sectionals.  They lost one set in the process.  It was their first match so I can only assume they were still waking up.  Sorry but NOHO didn’t have a team.


8.0 55+ Sectionals – NOHO went undefeated in Flight 1 while Dallas struggled to a 2-2 finish losing to NOHO and Austin in two tight matches.  In the final it was Fort Worth, with actual Fort Worth guys, defeating NOHO 2-1.  Congrats to our little brothers to the west on their impending trip to Nationals.